Gamers Are Fierce - Chapter 29
Chapter 29: A Lotus
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Tell us!” Hanging Sword for Ten Thousand Miles really wanted to strangle Li Ang’s neck and move it back and forth.
A genius who kept everything to himself and loved looking down on others based on his high IQ level was too annoying.
“He he…”
Li Ang casually threw the account book and got up before running to the Hall of Great Strength. The other players hurried after him.
Li Ang, who had rushed into the Hall of Great Strength, scanned the various Buddha statues back and forth. A Gautama Buddha was sitting in the middle in a lotus position.
The Medicine Buddha of Pure Crystal Radiance held an alms bowl in his left hand and some pills in his right hand.
The Amitabha Buddha put one hand on top of the other with a lotus seat in his palm.
These were the Buddhas of the Three Worlds.
The Eighteen Arhats were enshrined on both sides of the main hall. Behind the main temple’s Buddha statues were the statues of the great scholars Manjusri and Samantabhadra.
Strangely, an island had been specially built behind the Hall of Great Strength and a Goddess of Mercy statue had been set up in the north. This Goddess of Mercy statue had been elegantly carved with Sudhana on the left and Dragon Girl on the right. Each one was covered with gold leaves and gold paint, looking pearlescent and more dignified than Gautama Buddha in the main hall.
“As I expected.”
Li Ang sneered and returned to the main hall before carefully knocking on the base stand under each Buddha statue.
Dong-dong, dong-dong, dong-dong.
The wooden board base stand underneath the Dragon-Subduing Arhat produced a hollow sound. Li Ang tore the board to reveal a pitch-black gloomy passageway inside it.
He fished out his flashlight and crawled along the passageway. On the way, spiders and insects crawled everywhere.
Xing Hechou and the others followed Li Ang awkwardly and walked some distance along the passageway before crawling out of the board from the other end.
The other end of the board was situated in a hidden wall of the monastic room.
Li Ang scanned the room and crawled back along the passageway without a sound. After arriving at the Hall of Great Strength, he reached out to brush away the dust on the pillars of the hall and checked each of the red pillars one by one.
On the pillar on the left side of Goddess of Mercy, Li Ang touched a slightly undetectable dent. The surface of the dent seemed to have been painted with a new layer of red paint.
After peeling the external red paint, he found out that the old red paint was mottled. There were spiderweb cracks that seemed to have been struck by force, and black bloodstains had been left in the wood shavings inside the dent.
The quest objective of surviving for seven days, the anomalies in the Longmen accounting of income, expenses, assets, and liabilities, the dignified Goddess of Mercy statue, the pillars beside the Goddess of Mercy statue that had been struck by a force, and the female ghost that had appeared in the monastic room were all elements that lingered in Li Ang’s mind and finally weaved a huge network of collusion.
“So this is the truth after all.”
Li Ang exhaled and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile that was both sarcastic and infuriating.
“Little Li.”
Just like the vast majority of the people who had come into contact with Li Ang, Xing Hechou’s bright and positive face looked constipated. “Can you tell us what you know?”
“I know the true secret of the impoverished Solitary Temple.”
Li Ang said with a smile, “Do you guys want to know?”
Except for Liu Wudai, the others subconsciously nodded their heads.
“It’s very simple. I have to start from the way Solitary Temple was 13 years ago.”
“At the time, the Abbot of Solitary Temple was not Grand Master Dao Zhi yet. It was Grand Master Ming Cheng. There were also only 20 monks in the temple.”
“Emperor Jiajing was a foolish cultivator of the Daoist School. During his reign, he had thought highly of Daoism and assisted the Daoist School for the sake of seeking longevity. Instead of burning joss sticks for prosperous Daoism, he felt pained that he couldn’t reach a higher-level path of Buddhism, let alone that Solitary Temple had impoverished citizens far away.
“Grand Master Ming Cheng was the flagship. Over 20 monks of Solitary Temple relied on monetary and material donations from Buddhist devotees. They had also reclaimed wasteland to plant grains and weave clothes for sale.
“They could barely eat their fill and dress warmly each day. However, they were limited to plain tea and simple food. They couldn’t even think about fish or meat.
“Five years ago, Grand Master Ming Cheng was no longer the Abbot. Perhaps, he died or retired due to old age. Grand Master Dao Zhi, who came from another temple, became the Abbot of Solitary Temple.
“After Grand Master Dao Zhi rose to power, the incense burning in the temple suddenly flourished and Buddhist devotees kept flooding in. Local despotic gentry also donated money and goods, offered land deeds, and gave fertile land to Solitary Temple to use it as a Buddhist field.
“Solitary Temple became rich all of a sudden. The temple, which used to have barely over 20 monks, now had 200 monks. Thanks to its strong financial resources, the temple immediately constructed the Longevity Bank and stored money in it. They even provided loans to farmers, landlords, and businessmen every month based on a 3% interest rate using the Longevity Bank.
“Loans had been used since ancient times. The maximum interest rate for loans was 6% at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and 4% at the end of the Tang Dynasty. The Song Dynasty had followed the Tang Dynasty. In the Great Ming Code, it is stated that the interest rate for private loans and pawning could not be over 3% each month. Although many months and years passed like this, each book provided an advantage. Violators would be caned 40 times, and those with dirty gains would be caned 100 times.
“A 3% interest rate per month equals 36% per year. If a loan surpassed that value, it was considered a high-interest loan. This numerical value has also spread to the real world.
“The Longevity Bank of Solitary Temple usually provided loans with an annual interest rate of 36%. When they encountered a large number of loans and long-term borrowers, they would give them a high-interest rate of 48%.
“Grand Master Ming Cheng of the Solitary Temple was not afraid that they wouldn’t repay the loan. This was because Buddhism had always been clean, so this was a good place for money laundering. Solitary Temple served as a broker that provided loans and obtained interest rates on behalf of the local county magistrate. Since they were collecting a protection fee on behalf of the authorities, they weren’t afraid that people would dare not repay the money to Buddhism!
“At the same time, Solitary Temple could still provide financial assistance to local gentry and spend money to buy official posts. Those who assumed official posts approached, and those who demanded debt repayment were countless. How could the citizens benefit from this?
“This was a collusion of the officials and the temple! After colluding with the officials, the temple paid fewer taxes and developed even faster.
“Now that they had capital, they thought of earning more money. Businessmen pursued interest, and so did monks. Solitary Temple made a large-scale investment and bought gambling houses, brothels, dyeing shops, printing shops, rouge shops, and dozens of other shops. Thus, they became richer and richer.
“Solitary Temple originally had a batch of fields that had been donated from despotic gentry. After having an inexhaustible treasury, they naturally went down the path of acquiring land.
“Four years ago, the droughts and floods in this area caused severe damage to the grains. The tenant farmers, who had fields, could only put up their fields as collateral and sell them to Solitary Temple. The small farmers nearly could not resist this accidental disaster. If they had weddings and funerals in their families or poor harvests, they would be facing bankruptcy. Therefore, they could only put up their fields as collateral and sell them to Solitary Temple.
“In just half a year, Solitary Temple had acquired legal ownership and multiple tiers of ownership resulting from the owners selling usufruct rights in the surrounding 10,000 fields and now had countless fields. All the tenant farmers on the land no longer had the right to self-cultivation and had instead become serfs of the temple.
“He he he… The farmers were serfs of the temple. The devastation of the serfs was much more miserable than the tenant farmers in movies and TV dramas.
“They were pressed for rent for the growing grains in the fields and borrowed money with interest. Instead of appearing on the scene, those money lenders made noise all over the place.
“Despite making use of the fertile land, Solitary Temple was in an extremely good financial situation. Why did they suddenly fall three years later?
“This has to be considered the start of Solitary Temple’s rich period.”
Li Ang pointed at the extravagantly-decorated Goddess of Mercy statue and said with a smile, “Three months after Grand Master Dao Zhi rose to power, intense donations from Buddhist devotees and despotic gentry surged and were marked as money gifts.
“It turned out that after the female believers piously visited the Goddess of Mercy statue in Solitary Temple to pray for a son, they got pregnant one after another. Therefore, the name of the Goddess of Mercy statue in Solitary Temple immediately spread.
“In the countryside, commoners presented grains and agricultural products. In order to show piety, the despotic gentry donated money, items, and land to Solitary Temple to have more sons in their families.
“However, it was not easy to pray for a son. The female believers who wanted to have a child had to piously kowtow for a night before the Goddess of Mercy statue of the Hall of Great Strength. During this period, nobody could disturb them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work.
“The name of the Goddess of Mercy statue in Solitary Temple spread even wider, so more and more female believers prayed for a son. However, an accident occurred three years ago.”
Li Ang pointed to the dent on the red pillar beside the Goddess of Mercy statue and said, “A female believer was praying piously on the praying mat. In the middle of the night, a group of monks walked out of the hidden wooden door below the Dragon-Subduing Arhat base stand with lewd smiles.
“It turned out that the group of monks had infiltrated the Hall of Great Strength and forcibly tarnished female worshippers. This was how they prayed for a son before the Goddess of Mercy statue in Solitary Temple.
“The Ming Dynasty had a strict etiquette. The female worshippers who had lost their innocence didn’t dare reveal it to their husbands. A few months after they returned home, they found out that they were pregnant.
“This group of lewd monks thought that they could still do what they wished at night like they had in the past and safeguard the name of the Goddess of Mercy statue in Solitary Temple by fulfilling the wishes of those who prayed for a son. However, they had never expected that this female worshipper would be ready to die to preserve her chastity. She would rather die than submit to them. In the end, she knocked herself to death against this pillar.
“It was inexcusable that someone had died. The group of monks, who felt panicked and helpless, could only claim that the female worshipper had unexpectedly gone missing. However, this explanation was naturally not accepted by her family. Hence, her relatives brought this up to the authorities.
“The family of that female worshipper probably had some power and put pressure on the authorities. After they investigated the matter thoroughly and handed out cruel punishment, they obtained the biggest secret of the monks of Solitary Temple.
“When the scandal was exposed, it caused an uproar in the local community. The despotic gentry and commoners, who used to donate money, naturally couldn’t stomach this. They established contact with the authorities to kill all the monks in the temple and seized the land deeds within the temple.
“Unfortunately, although all the lewd monks had died, the soul of that female worshipper, who had been ready to die to preserve her chastity, was still trapped in this place.”
Li Ang sighed. “If my guess is right, the female ghost that we saw in Solitary Temple should be her.”
His long speech had finally been concluded. Xing Hechou and Hanging Sword for Ten Thousand Miles were stupefied and speechless.
Despite racking their brains, they had never expected that, besides fighting and killing, a small part of the plot quest could also lead to something great.
Before Xing Hechou could lament, Li Ang stepped out of the Hall of Great Strength and out of Solitary Temple and arrived at the dense forest.
This was the edge of the range of 500 meters designated by the quest.
There seemed to be a ghost in the trees’ shadows. Without fear, he fished out his ax and started digging by using it as a hoe.
“What are you doing?” Hanging Sword for Ten Thousand Miles and the others, who had chased after him, asked.
“Digging,” Li Ang said. “Digging all the land 500 meters away from Solitary Temple.”
His teammates looked at each other. Upon seeing the dark sky and gloomy, dense forest, they hesitated a little.
Li Ang, who was digging, looked up and said helplessly, “Since that female ghost is constrained to this place, her skeleton is probably not far away. If we dig out her skeleton and burn it, there will be no disaster.”
Xing Hechou and the others didn’t know what to say.
Their quest, which was to survive for seven days, had been issued by the system just to make them suffer the attack of the female ghost. Endlessly afraid, they would see their teammates die one by one and tremble before surviving for seven days out of luck.
How come Li Ang, who was fast at deciphering, had taken the initiative to attack, avoided the hidden danger in advance, and completed the quest?
Brother, why aren’t you using the standard method?
Xing Hechou and the others, who felt as if myriads of alpacas were running in their hearts, surrounded Li Ang and started digging without uttering a word.
Hands.
Legs.
Head.
Arms.
Shoulders.
Several hours later, pieces of bones were dug out of the soil 500 meters away from the temple. Eventually, they were put together to form a human shape.
“Based on the bones’ age, she died three years ago. Judging by the bone structure, this was a woman. She also had a nice figure and probably looked very pretty.”
Upon seeing the arm bones, he thought of her thigh bones, ribs, and chest.
Li Ang’s imagination could only leap forward at this level.
He looked at the female bones on the ground and said with a sigh, “Someone is responsible for every grievance, and there is a debtor for every debt. Seek revenge if you have a feud and seek justice if you have been wronged. Sister, please rest in peace.”
After he said that, he took a Molotov cocktail out of his backpack and got ready to cremate the skeleton.
Xing Hechou, Hanging Sword for Ten Thousand Miles, Hui Bing, Liu Wudai, and the others took out their weapons and surrounded Li Ang.
Since the skeleton was about to be cremated, now would probably be the best time for the female ghost to attack them if she wanted to.
Swoosh…
Just as the Molotov cocktail was about to land on the ground and smash the skeleton, a slender hand reached out from the ground.
Xing Hechou and the others, who had been waiting for this, were about to execute their formidable moves to turn that arm into scraps. However, Li Ang waved his hand to stop them.
“Hold on.”
“Why are you hesitating? Just kill it!” Hanging Sword for Ten Thousand Miles shouted hurriedly.
If he had just entered the plot quest, he wouldn’t have cared about a Level-3 game novice like Li Ang. However, the plot development had always met Li Ang’s expectations, so Hanging Sword for Ten Thousand Miles couldn’t get angry.
Li Ang shook his head indifferently and watched expressionlessly as the hand grabbing the Molotov cocktail reached out from the ground.
Arm, shoulder, body.
A young lady wearing a goose-yellow long skirt rose from the ground just like a muddy version of a lotus flower breaking the surface.
She was around 20 years old and was wearing a goose-yellow long skirt. Her skin was pale, there was some soil on her pretty face, and her eyebrows were as slender as though she was a drawing. She had a trace of sorrow at the corners of her eyes and was tightly pursing the corners of her lips, causing people to take pity on her.
She was a rather pretty lady that would have been popular on TikTok in modern society.
Unfortunately, she had died. Her bones had been cremated, so she couldn’t strike while the iron was hot.
Li Ang took a step forward and said firmly, “Hello. Are you an older brother or younger sister?”
The female ghost, who was holding onto the Molotov cocktail, cranked her head in confusion. Her strange, gloomy appearance along with this cute pose made Li Ang’s heart palpitate.
Xing Hechou and the others, who had been on their guard, hadn’t expected that Li Ang would start thinking of having any kind of outcome with the female ghost. However, they didn’t dare relax. Instead, they raised various military blades toward the spirit. If the other party made any strange movements, these four players would strike with their formidable moves!
“You don’t understand?” Li Ang tidied the CQB tactical clothes on him and coughed before telling the female ghost, “I’m Li Risheng. What’s your name?”
Meow, meow, meow? Was this the time to be striking up a conversation?
